The College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences celebrates the success of its summer and fall graduates at its Fall Convocation ceremony on December 17, 2015. Three of undergraduates completed their studies with perfect 4.0 grade point averages. Congratulations to them and to all the CLASS graduates of Fall 2015.

Here are mini profiles on CLASS’s graduates with perfect G.P.A.s:

Stephanie Guei, Kinesiology- Fitness & Sports

It took leaving UH for a semester for Stephanie Guei to realize the true value of a college education.

Although she made excellent grades, she always felt enormous anxiety when a new semester began. At the beginning of her junior year her nerves got the best of her and she decided not to enroll.

“I just could not go through with it, so I left,” she recalls. “Instead I worked two jobs - one at my previous summer job on weekends, and the other at my old elementary school during the week.”

At both jobs she worked closely with children, which confirmed her career goal of becoming an elementary school physical education teacher. But she quickly realized that she was working long hours, yet she would not have an opportunity to grow as a professional without her degree.

“I learned that I had to come back to school, not necessarily for anyone else, although I was highly encouraged by family and friends, but for my own self,” she says. “I learned that because without school, I wouldn't be able to do what I want to do as a career in the future.”

After re-enrolling, she says she was “more pumped than ever to finish just as strong as I started.  And when I realized I was still capable, I knew I would be okay from then on.”

In fact, she was more than okay and her perfect 4.0 grade point average is proof. Her next step is to complete her teaching certification and launch a job search for teaching positions.

“I am currently a substitute teacher in Pasadena ISD, trying to get as much experience as I can so that I will be more prepared to find a PE teaching job when I graduate,” she says.

Kristina Elizabeth Lindquist, Psychology

After attending boarding school in Northern Virginia, and beginning her college experience at Elon University in North Carolina, Kristina Lindquist decided to return to her hometown of Houston to complete her degree.

“I chose UH because I had heard many great things about the school and it was obviously much closer to home than the previous schools I attended,” she says. “I additionally believed it would provide me with more opportunities to pursue my interests, and sure enough it did.”

To put into practice what she’s learned in her psychology classes, Lindquist works as a research assistant for the Neural Bases of Bilingualism Lab, a position she’s held since May 2015. Additionally, she has two off-campus jobs. She works as a certified Pilates instructor and as a corporate affairs director at a privately-owned oil and gas pipe fitting company.

Balancing three jobs and her coursework She balanced all these roles with her coursework and is graduating with a 4.0 gpa and plans to attend graduate school.

“After January I’ll be moving to Los Angeles, California where I hope to enter a psychology Master’s program.  Upon completion of a Master’s program I will enter a Clinical Psychology PhD program with a concentration in neuroscience,” says Lindquist. “Eventually I would like to conduct research at either a private research facility or a university or enter a private clinical practice.”

Benjamin Tompkins, Psychology

Although he had plans to go to medical school, Benjamin Tompkins thought that a degree in psychology would help him to eventually become a better physician.

 “I picked psychology because I thought it would be good to study a social science alongside physics, chemistry, and biology,” he says.

Recent studies have shown that Tompkin’s theory is true – an article in the Washington Post that CLASS shared on its Facebook page states that the U.S. needs more STEM majors with liberal arts training. [link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/02/18/we-dont-need-more-stem-majors-we-need-more-stem-majors-with-liberal-arts-training/]

Beginning in July 2016, he will attend Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Foster School of Medicine in El Paso, TX. He’ll spend his time prior to then working at his current retail job.

Tompkins is originally from Frisco, TX and graduated from Jesuit Dallas in 2008. He took his first psychology class in high school and had always found everyone’s different theories on behavior interesting.

After graduating, Tompkins knew he wanted to move to Houston and was initially attracted to UH for the creative writing program. However, once he arrived on campus, he changed his plans and decided to go pre-med via a psychology major, revisiting his high school interest in the subject.

While excelling at his coursework, Tompkins also served as a Resident Advisor in Cougar Village One for two years.

“I learned to be cool with doing a good job and getting things done in my own sort of way. And it was a lot of fun because I worked with really awesome people,” he says.

Tompkins also volunteered at Houston Hospice which he says was “an incredible experience.” When he had any downtime, he enjoyed skateboarding around campus with friends.

“I loved the skate scene on campus,” he says.

As a future doctor, Tompkins says he plans to stay in Texas and make a positive impact on the state’s healthcare.